A quick overview of my right ankle...

        Even though I sustained some severe damage to my spine, compression fractures of my lumbar vertebrae the L2, 3, 4 & 5, broken ribs, along with fractures to the tibula and heel in my left leg, right now I want to talk about where the most serious trauma occurred, my right ankle and what I know of the injury and surgery to come.

    It seems that every time that I go in for a follow up appointment there is something new the doctor is telling me about my injury, or maybe it was just too much information for me to digest in the beginning.  Either way I have a fairly good understanding of what the injuries are in my right foot.  Here's an X-ray of that leg in its glory, titanium upgrades and all.

    Obviously the fibula does not have Earth Hurts scratched into it, but I figured I would give you a sneak peek at the graphic for one of the safety awareness t-shirts.  What I'm counting is 3 plates and 12 screws.

    Now, let's see if I can explain what is going on....
Aside from obliterating the deltoid ligament (which is the strongest ligament in the body), I also chipped my talus, both are extremely difficult to do and are a very serious injuries to the ankle.  You can see the small indentation (chipped talus) in the bone below the bottom screw, along with a large gap on the inside of the ankle that is uneven with the rest of the ankle placement.  The rebuilding of the deltoid ligament should pull the ankle back in, making the gap as close to even all the way across and down.  I will have a surgery date soon and hopefully have it done by the end of the month (June 2013). The deltoid ligament itself is going to be rebuilt using cadaver parts, kinda creepy and unnerving, but according to my doctor, this is the way to go.
 
    The break in the tibula should be pretty obvious to see. There is also a missing piece at the very bottom of the tibula as well, it isn't as noticeable and according to my doctor it shouldn't pose as a problem in the long-term and is the least of my worries.

    To my understanding the largest screw you see will be removed and replaced with a type of thread or wire at the time of the operation.  It will be an arthroscopic surgery that should take a few hours and be an outpatient procedure.  From what I have been told, about 6 small incisions will be made, one for inserting the arthroscope, another to clean out the scar tissue and the remaining for reconstructing the deltoid ligament.  I'm not sure, but there is talk of replacing the chipped and missing piece of the talus with cadaver bone.

    As of right now I am only allowed to put 30lbs of pressure on the right ankle.  I figured out what 30lbs of pressure felt like by resting my leg on a bathroom scale, and that is all it amounts to, a resting type posture with all my weight on the left while using the right basically as a kickstand.  I've been on crutches for close to about two months now.  The pain isn't that bad, the ankle is super stiff, I can feel the metal when its cold,  and it swells towards the evening.

Earth Hurts...